Dot Bunn is a full time studio painter and teacher with a very strong commitment to continuing the traditional methods of oil painting. She believes that throughout history creative artists have embraced technologies as they emerged. Dot finds her inspiration and guidance in the convention of picture-making from the fine old master paintings you see in museums. She strives to find her unique expression within this discipline.
Dot designs her paintings using traditional methods of composition involving the geometry of rectangles much the same as was done by painters dating back to the Renaissance. She uses digital photography for imaging references along with her computer to monitor progress of the work. She enjoys the challenge of building a composition that works two dimensionally while depicting reality. She then draws the Grisaille as a foundation layer for the painting that will be covered with her skillful use of color and glazing. Her goal is to achieve the highest caliber of workmanship and craft as the masters accomplished in the past.
Dot believes that “Spontaneity and enthusiasm are not substitutes for planning and experience in oil painting. Great paintings are the result of intelligent planning and the endless study of technique and process. After that you need to be inspired by your subjects. My great love of the Bucks County countryside has given me endless landscape inspiration but I also enjoy painting the flowers from my gardens. Lately I have really enjoyed painting the people that I find doing things that capture my imagination. I have never found myself lacking for something to paint. The very act of painting is a joy for me.”
Upon graduating from high school Dot was unable to continue her formal education. During her years of raising a family she took classes at the Hicks Art Center and studied with individual watercolor instructors. She stayed involved with creating art while working as a graphic designer, weaver and dress maker. In 2003 she made the decision to paint full time in oils, working in her studio everyday for eight hours or more, painting and reading books on the techniques and philosophy of art. In 2007 she started studying with Myron Barnstone at Barnstone Studios. With the help of this gifted teacher she began to realize how much more there is to achieve and how exhilarating it is to understand color and composition the way the great masters of art applied them.
Dot, a life long resident of Bucks County Pennsylvania teaches traditional oil painting and “Understanding Color, the Art of Color Mixing” from her Red Stone Farm Studio outside Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Dot’s work is represented by three fine galleries in Pennsylvania: Newman Galleries, Philadelphia; Chapman Gallery, Doylestown; Bucks Gallery of Fine Art, New Hope.
